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NCAA Puts Severe Limits On Sport Event Blogging

Posted by Zonk on from the because-commentary-isn't-appropriate-for-sporting-events dept.

An anonymous reader writes "You would think that the NCAA would be thrilled to have reporters live blogging events in order to generate more interest and keep passionate fans talking about NCAA sports. Not so. The governing body of the NCAA has released new rules for receiving press credentials and it includes severe limits on live blogging. If you're covering NCAA football, make sure you don't blog more than 3 times in a single quarter. If it's baseball, one post an inning is all you get. If you don't follow the rules expect to get ejected and have your press credentials pulled."

46 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. What are these "sports" you speak of? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is it something like... chess?

    1. Re:What are these "sports" you speak of? by gbulmash · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It may seem like a joke, but basically the NCAA's position is "you guys are great until you start costing us sponsors or licensing revenue, then you're a nuisance," which is basically how rabid fans fans are treated by bands, sports teams, etc.

      - Greg

      --
      Start a happiness pandemic
  2. £5 says by Malevolent+Tester · · Score: 5, Funny

    The baseball bloggers start compiling meticulous statistics on ejection averages.

    --
    If you haven't made a developer cry, you've wasted a day.
    1. Re:£5 says by BZWingZero · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't you mean injection averages?

  3. How do they expect to detect this ? by aepervius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I mean, if I am joe-everybody, and got somehow a pda with wireless connection in a stadium or mobile phone+internet, how can they even hope to stop me writing post in a blog (or even a normal html web page) on the exciting match I am just watching ? I can't see anything copyrighted here (describing an event in writing) where they could even stops me, would not it ? Less even detect at which seating I am ?

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
    1. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by pipatron · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They might take your equipment before you are allowed entrance to the event. Wouldn't be surprised if this happens.

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
    2. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by jayhawk88 · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is the same organization that is used to discovering how many phone calls a coach's assistant made to a recruits uncle between the months of April and August from 4 years ago. Trust me, they've got no problem sweating the details.

    3. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by bcattwoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And how are they going to take away your press credentials that you never had? This isn't for joe-everybody, it is for people with press credentials.

    4. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by rujholla · · Score: 2, Informative

      They are talking about pulling offenders press passes -- so these are rules for people who are getting in under their rules to begin with. Not the guy in the stand blogging about the great game.

    5. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by hal2814 · · Score: 4, Informative

      "Less even detect at which seating I am ?"

      I think you miss the point. The only seating they are concerned with here is the press box (and anywhere else press credentials will get you like the sidelines in some cases). If you're going to blog from the stands, then no they can't stop you but if you're going to use your blog to become a card-carrying member of the press and get into the event on their dime, then you're going to play by their rules. Generally speaking they will be keeping an eye on you in that case. They're kind of stupid rules but at least bloggers can get press credentials for NCAA events.

    6. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by spiritraveller · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's targeted at people with press credentials. If you have press credentials, you probably aren't sitting in the stands. You are probably in the press area. And since you have applied for and received these credentials, they know who you are.

      How would they detect it? By checking your blog probably.

      Can they stop Joe Everybody from doing it? As a practical matter, probably not. And they probably aren't too worried about Joe Everybody (at least not yet). As for the legal issues, I don't see a problem with it. It's their game, and they set the rules. If you break the rules, they kick you out.

    7. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by NNKK · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Which would be a violation of federal law.

    8. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by Luscious868 · · Score: 2, Informative

      How do they expect to detect this ?

      If you want to get press credentials then you've got to follow the rules. I'm sure part of the process of applying for the credentials involves letting the NCAA know which site you write for and as such they could check to see how many times you post to that site if they want to.

      Since this only applies to bloggers with press credentials, you can do whatever you damn well please if you just buy a ticket and sit in the stands like everybody else. Of course, good luck doing live blogging from the stands of a college football game when it's raining or snowing.

    9. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by Doctor-Optimal · · Score: 5, Funny

      I have a ton laying around my house in little round circles. Thank you for clarifying that those circles were, in fact, round.
      --
      New punctuation update "~" (no quotes) at the end of a line to indicate sarcasm. ~
    10. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by khallow · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What happens if you need to be a card-carrying member of the press in order to legitimately live blog a game without being ejected? I guess I'm not seeing why they can't eject people who live blog, whether these people are press members or not.

    11. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by Grant_Watson · · Score: 2, Informative

      There's no law (that I'm aware of) that prevents them from barring those with cell phones, as stupid as that might be. It's jamming them that's illegal-- at least in the United States.

    12. Re:How do they expect to detect this ? by NNKK · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=operations_2&id=cellular

      "The operation of transmitters designed to jam or block wireless communications is a violation of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"). See 47 U.S.C. Sections 301, 302a, 333. The Act prohibits any person from willfully or maliciously interfering with the radio communications of any station licensed or authorized under the Act or operated by the U.S. government. 47 U.S.C. Section 333. The manufacture, importation, sale or offer for sale, including advertising, of devices designed to block or jam wireless transmissions is prohibited. 47 U.S.C. Section 302a(b). Parties in violation of these provisions may be subject to the penalties set out in 47 U.S.C. Sections 501-510. Fines for a first offense can range as high as $11,000 for each violation or imprisonment for up to one year, and the device used may also be seized and forfeited to the U.S. government."

      This applies even on private property, because of the largely uncontrollable nature of signal propagation. For this same reason, it is effectively impossible for any person, entity, or government short of the federal government in the US to make any sort of rules relating to radio transmission, no matter where they try to enforce such rules.

  4. Who needs press credentials? by Itchyeyes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What exactly does the NCAA hope to accomplish by revoking press credentials when just about anyone can blog from anywhere with nothing more than a smart phone? Will the NCAA then start revoking peoples' cellphones at the gates? This move just reeks of idiocy.

    1. Re:Who needs press credentials? by fallen1 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      This move just reeks of idiocy.

      No, this move just reeks of GREED. Almost every time someone, especially a corporate or commercial interest, attempts to limit the freedom of information about them then you should start sniffing for dollars because they are doing so in an attempt to keep the money themselves. Greed is going to be the downfall of many old-school, established businesses and/or their processes even though it may take a while. Just look at the RIAA and MPAA for examples - unless they can somehow overcame their stuck-in-a-rut attitudes and progress into the current year then they are going to be overrun sooner or later by a business model that can adapt to the times.

      I've used the following quote before, but it seems appropriate again here:

      As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -- Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"

      In this case, the NCAA wants to master all communications about the game. In some ways, this is their right since they own the "copyright" on the game in question. On the other hand, live blogging adds a new dimension to what has become a rote exercise (TV coverage, radio coverage, and print media coverage) and gives new life to sports coverage - imho. Still, I believe that money and greed is behind this move. Send in the bloodhounds and start sniffing...

      --

      Dream as if you'll live forever.
      Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
      ~Anonymous~

    2. Re:Who needs press credentials? by aaronreynolds · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Press credentials don't just get you a comfy seat -- they get you access to detailed press materials (like today's game notes -- ever wonder where all those stories that the broadcast team tells come from? The game notes, that's where) and even more importantly, access to the players and coaches and management in the press scrums and for one-on-one interviews. That said, I don't know exactly what you get at the NCAA level. But at the MLB level, the access is phenomenal and you bend over backwards not to lose it once you have it.

  5. NCAA has a habit of making bonehead moves by FatAlb3rt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This coming from the group that put Florida State on notice for appearance in bowl games because of its mascot but made no mention of Notre Dame's? Somehow I'm not surprised.

  6. Apropos poem by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I met a traveller from an antique land
    Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
    Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
    And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
    And on the pedestal these words appear:
    "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
    Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
    Nothing beside remains: round the decay
    Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

    ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

    =Smidge=

  7. This is a good idea too by gelfling · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because we shouldn't delude ourselves that NCAA isn't a professional sports league.

  8. Don't Eject Me, Bro by rebmemeR · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can watch the game on TV at home or listen on the radio and blog it from home. Does my physically attending the game really help me do a better job of that? Can the NCAA eject me from my house?

    --
    Birth is the leading cause of death.
  9. Maybe it's time to start questioning... by drooling-dog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...why educational institutions ought to be in the business of quasi-professional sports in the first place. The tail has been wagging the dog for a long time now, and it's getting worse every year.

    1. Re:Maybe it's time to start questioning... by QuasiEvil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed - as someone who watched countless *academic* activities suffer every time the various sports programs needed money at my alma matter (despite the countless zillions their rights licensing brought in), I've always thought it was a complete travesty to everything higher education is about. Sports scholarships should be eliminated, and these jocks (at least the ones that are only there to play ball, and not really educate themselves) should go where they belong - minor league teams (which, I might add, the NFL could really use some sort of development league, much like minor league baseball and basketball teams produce players for MLB and the NBA).

      I'm probably the only person who actively cheers for whatever team is opposing my old university, just out of sheer hatred for the football program. Yeah, I've got anger issues.

    2. Re:Maybe it's time to start questioning... by drooling-dog · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why? Because it makes money -- lots of money to fund all those things that geeks like such as research and scholarships. Well, I'm not sure how much revenue generated by athletics goes into "research and scholarships" (other than athletic scholarships, that is). But...

      I can go to the other pole as well: Why pretend that college athletics is some kind of overgrown extracurricular activity? If it has to be such a big deal on campus, let's acknowledge it for what it is (and I am not being facetious):

      (1) If students can major in things like music, dance, and art, why not let athletes major in football, basketball, or whatever? Success in all of these things requires a great deal of talent, understanding, and practice. Why treat athletics as if it is some subordinate endeavor, when society clearly values it so highly? If an Literature major can earn a degree without playing a sport, then let a talented athlete earn one without the Lit classes.

      (2) Why shouldn't universities pay their athletes, at least for the time they spend at practice and in games? Back when I was a student, I worked for the university writing software (among other things), and they paid me for this. Why should playing football be any different, particularly when the U is making so much money (as others here have pointed out) from their efforts?

      Maybe we just need to acknowledge the importance that athletics unquestionably has in our society, rather than pretending that it exists on some lower plane of human talent and ability. Either that, or get schools out of the sports business. At least then we wouldn't have to be hypocrites about it.
    3. Re:Maybe it's time to start questioning... by drooling-dog · · Score: 2, Funny

      Do whatever it takes to get yourself on the board of regents of a university with a voting stake in the NCAA, and change the status quo. Ordinarily I would do just that, but the last time I complained about the war in Iraq someone told me I should run for President or STFU, and it's been taking all the time I have just to get that whole process started. Running for President, I mean.

      And don't even get me started about the time I complained about the weather...
  10. Three words: Follow the money by Enlarged+to+Show+Tex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Basically, the NCAA is acting like the MPAA in an attempt to limit access to try to restrict the transmission of information with respect to its events, with an onward eye toward selling exclusive access rights to the highest bidder in the MSM.

    Hardly surprising from Myles Brand, the guy who made his claim to fame as the guy who fired Bobby Knight at Indiana...as many would say: "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

  11. Ask me if I give a shit about their rules by davmoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If its a private school, that's one thing. But if I'm at a game involving my local public university, which is supported by my tax dollars, I'm not going to bother getting press credentials, and I'll blog about any damned thing I want during their game. And I'll do it as often as I want. Fuck the NCAA. If they want to restrict my commenting on their sports, then their team's schools do not need my supporting tax dollars. My tax dollars, then its my property too. Period. No exceptions.

    (And yes, I feel the same way about a university's research. If that research was paid for by a company, they can control it how ever they like. But if that research was paid for by my tax dollars, then they can take their patent application and shove it up their collective ass.)

    --
    I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
    1. Re:Ask me if I give a shit about their rules by stewbacca · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not going to bother getting press credentials, and I'll blog about any damned thing I want during their game. And I'll do it as often as I want. Fuck the NCAA.
      Maybe I misread the article, but you are free to do exactly what you describe, since you don't have press credentials. No fucking of the NCAA is required. If it were the other way around there'd be a problem (i.e., prohibiting non-credentialed people from phoning/blogging in scores).
    2. Re:Ask me if I give a shit about their rules by rhizome · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it were the other way around there'd be a problem (i.e., prohibiting non-credentialed people from phoning/blogging in scores).

      Do you really think they're unprepared for this? Once the press figures out that you don't need credentials to sit in your seat and tap out blog entries from your phone they're going to start ejecting people for that, too. It'll be the fan-attacking RIAA mess all over again.

      --
      When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
  12. Re:Bullshit by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe they should adopt an even more restrictive information model to drum up more live interest, like the model of Brockian Ultra-Cricket where not only is there no reporting on the game, you can't even see the game when you attend it!

    Take it to the next level: completely seal up the arena so no one can observe the game other than the players and you'll have the Wide World of Schrödinger Sports!

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  13. "Credentialed" by stewbacca · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This covers only credentialed reporters, which makes this a non-issue. Want credentials? Play by their rules. I guess it could breed a new type of papparazzi...the Uncredentialed Sports Blogger.

  14. Not surprising by ubrgeek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When I was at jacksonville.com (the Florida Times-Union Website) the Jaguars had just come into being. Obviously the local paper was going to cover them. Two issues came up: As part of our server farm, we named our servers, "entertainment.jacksonville.com," "lifestyle.jacksonville.com," "business.jacksonville.com," etc. Because we knew the Jags site would be so popular, we didn't put it on sports.jacksonville.com. Instead it went on jaguars.jacksonville.com. The Jags and the NFL threw a fit, claiming that we were doing it in an effort to capitalize on the names (nevermind that we had server logs from more than a year prior showing our naming convention.) For the outcome, go to http://jaguars.jacksonville.com/ ... It's still being used 10 years later.

    The second was they were having a fit because we were shooting pictures of the game and posting them to the site. Not in real-time. After the game. As part of our coverage. Our publisher agreed to stop doing so ... in exchange, the paper wouldn't write any articles about the team.

    So there we were, two days later, posting pictures to the site ... ;)

    --
    Bark less. Wag more.
    1. Re:Not surprising by tkrotchko · · Score: 2, Funny

      Considering how the jaguars have played most of the time, you were doing your readership a favor not covering them ;)

      --
      You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  15. Re:Bullshit by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also, NCAA, shoot yourself in the foot much?
    They can't help it, they're the NCAA and as we all know on Slashdot, all organizations ending in "AA" are prone to shooting themselves in the foot by creating new rules/laws.
  16. very misleading by snarkh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From the FA:

    Now, before anyone goes screaming censorship or free speech or anything along those lines -- these are the rules that the NCAA is setting for credentialed reporters. And, as a private organization, the NCAA can set whatever rules it wants for handing out credentials, no matter how mind-numbingly stupid they may be.

  17. Re:Bullshit by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

    NCAA, shoot yourself in the foot much?

    The NCAA deals more with balls than feet, making the shot far more painful.

    -mcgrew

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  18. Other NCAA Forbidden Items by deweycheetham · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Welcome to the world of the Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois.

    The NCAA has outlawed any pictures or representations of our Mascot. Take a look and you can see why (if you can't, your in sensitive clod).

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Illinilogo.png

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/2006-11-11_-_Chief_Illiniwek.jpg/200px-2006-11-11_-_Chief_Illiniwek.jpg

  19. Pro or amateur sports? by fermion · · Score: 4, Insightful
    One issue that has come up is the issue of whether the kids playing should have the protection we usually give kids, or if they should be treated like the pro players, or somewhere in between. On thing that is clear is that many NCAA players do receive some kind of compensation in excess of room, board, and classes normally awarded the top scholar, though likely not near the compensation of a pro player. Rules such as these also makes it clear that the NCAA itself behaves more like a pro sports organization than an amateur venue. On cannot, for instance, imagine an amateur musician, actor, athlete, or other entertainer limiting the press coverage of their act. The only people who wish to limit such coverage are those pro organization who need to monetize every score, stat, call, play, and image to generate the profits needed to support a pro organization.

    This is why I think the distinction is important. If the NCAA is an amateur organization, then we can forgive the situation when some of the member athletes do something stupid, like hire a stripper and serve beer to underage players, then do not have the maturity to excise themselves in a graceful way. But if they are not amateurs, of if NCAA wants to have the privileges affords pro sports, then they must also take on some of the responsibilities. Which means no one can call fowl when the players, even though they are kids, and have their names plastered across all the papers everytime they do something stupid. One cool thing about college is that one can get away with stuff one could never get away with on the outside. The side thing is that kids are accepting these high levels of responsibility without even thinking of the freedoms they are giving up.

    --
    "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    1. Re:Pro or amateur sports? by TheMidnight · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If college students aren't kids, then why did I encounter the following as an undergraduate?

      1. Limits on who I could have in my room and what time.
      2. A letter I had to write to my PARENTS if caught underage with alcohol (I never was, but it was a rule)
      3. Resident assistants who could basically boss you around as they see fit at the threat of being kicked out of the dorm.
      4. Curfews when someone in the dorm broke a rule.
      5. Mandatory floor meetings (again, gets you kicked out if you don't go)

      I understand most of these are housing related. I went to a public school, and I know things were a lot worse at private colleges (constant curfews, moral codes, etc). My point is, if I'm an adult, what the hell are all these rules for? They did nothing but limit my freedom the same way my parents did as a child.

  20. Blogging Gerund Fun by Adambomb · · Score: 3, Funny

    Calvin certainly said it best.

    Verbing weirds language.

    --
    Ice Cream has no bones.
  21. Follow the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The inclination to control what people do with the information at their disposal usually boils down to the elimination of information outlets which do not ultimately put money in the pockets of those who are trying to control said information.

    I am not familiar with this particular money trail, but I would speculate that there exist some specific, approved websites which give to-the-minute updates of the game's progress. They would be popularly known by sports fans.

    And they would have ad banners.

    If the fans can go to a banner-free blog site (or even a different site with different ad banners) then money isn't flowing to the pockets of the established partner-vendors. That cannot be tolerated, even if it means sacrificing some degree of publicity.

  22. And the press will portray you as a pirate, too by tkrotchko · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because you are cutting into the Network's, Radio's, and Newspaper's exclusive turf.

    Don't expect to be portrayed favorably.

    --
    You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
  23. Re:Bullshit by ShadowsHawk · · Score: 2, Informative

    The owner of the BlackHawks (hockey) made an exclusive contract with comcast to air the the matches back in the 80s. As a result, they now have an entire generation that doesn't give a crap out their local NHL team and will could potentially lose a massive amount of future revenue.